The Lost Marine: The Trellon Adventures Book 1

by DN Farrell

  Kell nodded in agreement and then asked Kolkalka "So you're saying we should give up?"

  "Not give up sir," Kolkalka replied, "but we have to be pragmatic." Kokalka then sat down in the chair next to Kell and looking up at the monitor, he said "Colonel, nobody could knock your efforts, you'll probably get decorated for them, but I think you're getting a little too close to this." He paused and then thinking himself to familiar he finished of by saying "sir."

  Once again Kell nodded reticently, he sighed and then looking over at Kolkalka, he tapped him on the arm and said. "You're right bud, I'm compromising the safety of the four of us, we have to do what we can to get out of here alive."

  Kell then paused and asked Kolkalka. "I have to rest for a couple of hours, what about the other two?" To which Kolkalka responded, "Ceres is in sick bay lying down with a bucket in his hand vomiting, so I put him on a drip and Regares is sleeping sir."

  "Can you fly this tin can?" Kell asked, to which Kolkalka simply nodded in the negative.

  "Okay I'll tell you what we'll do Corporal, we'll park the saucer in an orbit around the nearest planet and then I'll catch some zzzz's. In a few hours we'll all meet up and work out a plan for escape, in the meantime I need you to keep an eye on things here."

  With that Kell plotted in a flight to the nearest planet, which was about ten minutes away at warp level four. Then parking the ship in orbit he clarified with the corporal. "Corporal do you know anything about space navigation, handling a Mark IV saucer or anything like that?"

  Kolkalka simply shrugged.

  "I tell you what, just keep your eyes peeled," Kell said while pointing at the Holo Screen " and if anything comes within a hundred millions kilometers of the ship, just wake me up, I'll be in the captains quarters catching up on some sleep." And with that kell was off to sleep and Corporal Kolkalka, who knew absolutely nothing about space ships, as he was an artillery grunt, was left in charge of the saucer, as it gently orbited around a peaceful looking planet.

  Day Five

  Chapter Fourteen- Uninvited Guests

  Several hours later, refreshed after a quick nap, kell was up and about and checked in on Regares and Ceres. Ceres was still very sick, so he left him to take it easy in the sick bay, while kell and Regares made their way to the command module. Kolkalka was sitting there in the captain’s chair, just staring at the screen. When he saw kell coming, he jumped up and stood to attention, kell indicated for the two marines to sit down, while he sat in the captain's chair.

  "Well marines it's decision time," he said, "we either park around here somewhere and wait for the cavalry to arrive or we head out of here." He then looked across at Corporal Kolkalka and Private Regares, who looked a little unsure of what to say or do. Technically speaking Colonel kell could order them on what to do, but kell only liked to lead this way in battle, where one head was better than two or three, but in normal situations he liked to get a feel from the troops as to what they felt and often they had better insights than he had, the key to good leadership being to know when to follow someone else's idea and when to stick to your guns.

  "Any ideas marines?" He said and lifting his hands up in the air to indicate a willingness to take on ideas.

  Kolkalka was the first to speak up. "Sir I think we should get out of here, we just don't know when our numbers up, sir."

  Then looking over at Regares she said "Sir, I think kolkalka's right, we have a ship and we can get home, there's no guarantee that the navy is coming back, or if they come back it could be days from now."

  "Right so." Kell responded, as he had been thinking along the same lines, then looking back at the instruments, he dialled in the co-ordinates of naval HQ and engaged warp drive to warp level three, so as to spare the engines, for the near three week journey time, that it would take to get to naval HQ at warp level 3.

  Kell turned back around and looked at the two marines sitting in front of him and inquired "Marines designation please?"

  Kolkalka replied "Artillery" and Regares replied "Infantryman."

  "And what about Ceres, anyone know Ceres Designation?"

  "Infantryman sir." Retorted Regares.

  Kell then looked off into the distance and then looking back at the marines, he addressed them once again. "Marines luckily I know how to handle this ship. So I'm telling you now, it's going to be a three week ride home, if we manage to make it home without meeting any bandits along the way." He paused to see if they were listening and they were, so continuing he said "We're marines and we're still in a war zone, so like the three of us are sitting here now, you can take off your gloves and helmet, but the marines armor stays on and your gloves and helmet should always be nearby, just in case we engage with the enemy and get blown out of the ship. This isn't a military vessel, it has no shields and it has a weak hull, any engagement with the enemy will almost certainly result in us been tossed back into outer space once again."

  The two nodded, then looking at Kolkalka kell said "As an artillery grunt I think I can train you in on this ships laser cannon, so stick around while I give you some tips."

  Then looking over at Regares kell commented "Regares since your skills set doesn't match any function on this ship, you're on security detail, so keep an eye on our Incenotopian inmates from time to time and also keep an eye on Ceres." Then sitting back in his chair Kell dismissed the private and indicated for Kolkalka to sit in the weapons station and get trained up on the laser cannon.

  Over the next few hours Kell gave Kolkalka a tutorial on using the ships laser cannon. Being the exact same type of cannon, as the one used by the marine artillery unit, save for its power range as this gun was a grade 1 and the one the navy used was a grade 5, Kolkalka picked up on it pretty quickly, although he was still confused about locating objects in space, which presented a three hundred and sixty degree possible angle of attack, but with practice kell was sure that he would get there.

  The weapons station consisted of a small cockpit, where the gunner would sit and fire a virtual gun, while the actual laser cannon was attached to the very bottom of the ship. To engage the enemy, the cockpit would swing around in a two hundred and seventy degree ark, which meant for an exciting time for the gunner, but also it helped the gunner get a feel for where he was shooting at, as his headgear provided him with a virtual reality image of the outside of the ship. Once hooked into the cockpit the gunner would see wherever the gun was pointed and could maneuver the gun as if he were sitting in outer space along with the gun, the gun been attached to the very bottom of the ship.

  This was important to kell, as he could fly the ship, but he couldn't operate the weapons system at the same time. Not that the Incenotopian weapons system was complicated, it was just one sole Mark I Laser cannon, used by artillery units, space fighters and small naval vessels, but all the same if the bandits decided to chase the ship, kell could only ether navigate or fire the weapon at any one time.

  It would turn out that neither kell nor Kolkalka would have much time to train up in how to use the ships laser cannon, as on the outskirts of the Exugenean solar system, which was around four light years distance from the Exugean sun, the Mark IV saucer was in for a nasty surprise.

  Kell was still showing Kolkalka how to use the gun, when suddenly a proximity alert lit up on the navigation console. Checking it out, kell realized that the bandits had put up a cordon around that part of the solar system. It was notoriously difficult to engage with a ship, when it was moving at super luminal speeds. The Galactic Federation had weapons, which could engage with them, but the bandits didn't, but they had the next best thing, the ability to create a huge force field across a large part of space, which would act as a sort of energetic net, which would make it equivalent to hitting a virtual wall, which would implode the warp field and crush the space craft.

  To make such a net, required several space beacons, which each co-ordinated with each other to create a sort of energetic net. The space immediately in front of the saucer was filled wi
th a blanket of these beacons. The bandits had obviously seen the saucer and decided to intercept it, so like busy spiders they wove their web of energetic fields, which was nearly impossible to detect, thus trapping the ship and forcing kell to make an emergency break from warp speed. Kell's hands fluttered over the navigation console and quickly disengaged the warp drive, making the ship stop only hundreds of kilometers away from the expansive energetic wall. No sooner had the saucer slowed down to a low pulse speed, then three rebel ships also disengaged warp drive and came in at a fast Pulse speed in a pincer movement.

  Within seconds the three ships were on top of the Mark IV saucer, then they just sat there. Kell just looked at the Holo Tube, while Kolkalka waited patiently at the weapons console. The seconds ticked by and nothing happened, then nervously Kolkalka grunted to the Colonel "Colonel", there was no response, so once again he whispered "Colonel don't you think we should do something?"

  Kell just raised his left hand up in the air, to suggest that Kokalka should just sit still. Kell knew that the Mark IV saucer was no match for the three bandit ships, so instead he decided to see what happens next.

  They could of course blow up his ship, but then again they might want to investigate rather than just shoot up an innocent looking ship. After thirty seconds or so the rebel ship facing the Mark IV directly, began to hail it. Kell acted quickly, removing his upper body armor, so he looked like just any other regular Joe, then answering the hail, an image of a burly looking bearded man in a red turban came up on screen.

  "I am Reddeck of the Eastern Skies division of the Vis Yar, who are you and where are you going?" The turbaned figure asked Kell. Kell just looked back at him with a stony glare and said "I'm Ngek of Aluires 5, we're heading back there now."

  This made the bandit squint his eyes, then he said "Aluires 5 is a long way from here, more than a thousand light years, why are you here?" He asked in a policeman like tone of voice. Kell just kept on staring at him, coolly and calmly, while Kolkalka started to sweat profusely under the strain, for he knew if kell didn't answer the questions in the correct manner, that it would mean the end of them.

  "We're salvagers, we just finished some salvaging on the planet Excocon." Kell said and then reaching down into the inside pocket of his chest armor, he picked out a large cigar and lit it and started puffing away, in an effort to appear as unmilitaristic as possible.

  "Well Ngek of Aluires 5, we have been observing you since yesterday, your ship was moving erratically all over the solar system, why so?" Said the Captain of the bandit ship, leaning forward with curiosity, while he awaited kell’s reply.

  "Space junk!" Exclaimed kell who clarified his declaration, "We take it the extra mile on this ship," Kell replied with a wry smile crossing his lips, as he nearly laughed out his answer, " it's not just enough to pick up salvage on planets, we also salvage space itself." Kell said in a droll voice, as if he were answering a matter of fact question such as "What's your age?" or "Tell me how to get to Cygnus 5".

  The Captain of the bandit vessel looked perplexed and then said "How do we know you're not Federation personnel trying to escape?"

  "Come on off it!" kell exclaimed, lifting his arms up in the air as he sat there in his unmarked grey marines T Shirt and then he went on to say "Do we look like space navy?" he paused and then continued "Since when does the Federation use Mark IV saucers?"

  The Captain nodded slightly and then noted "Well, we shall see, prepare to be boarded, out."

  Kell turned around to Kokalka "Quick, get out of your uniform, just holster your blaster and be ready for anything, and hide your armor in the storage room on level one!" And with that kell ran down to level two and got both Regares and Ceres to do likewise.

  A minute or so later, there was a thud as one of the rebel ships docked with the mark IV saucer. Kell looked over at kokalka and said "Ssshh marine, I'll do all of the talking." There was a buzz sound as the rebels requested entry and with that a smiling Kell opened up the air lock, as a dozen or so rebels ran into the ship. The first of them declared himself to be "Rank first Lieutenant to Captain Reddeck, show me around your ship."

  Kell nodded politely and first of all he showed the Lieutenant the main storage room, which was full of salvaged items. Next they saw the second storage room, which was empty and Rank inquired "Why are you heading home so early when your ship is still half empty?"

  "Oh that's Ceres, he's one of our men, he's very sick we want to get him to see a doctor, we fear he might die." Kell cleverly adlibbed his answer.

  "Then show me this man." Retorted the Lieutenant, with a curious look on his face.

  Kell wasted no time, in taking the Lieutenant and his men up to the second level and the sick bay area, where Ceres was lying in bed, looking ill and Regares, in her civvies, was looking after him.

  "He has some kind of rare illness, he's my brother in law, I just can't leave him to die out here." kell said, with a slightly down trodden look on his face.

  The Lieutenant looked back at Ceres, who genuinely looked ill and then back at kell. "Captain why don't you come to Exugenes for medical care?"

  "Exugenes!" Kell exclaimed, "Are you mad, its ok for you rebels, but it's too hot for us salvagers to go there!"

  The Lieutenant just looked at him and then continued on with his search. "What about the rec room its locked and sealed", he said, then leaning over and looking at the welding "by a laser weapon of some sort!" Exclaimed Rank, who was now looking a little perplexed.

  "Mutiny." Kell said nonchalantly, while Kokalka’s knees where wobbling noticeably.

  "Mutiny?" The Lieutenant queried. Then Kell responded "Yes most of the crew are Incenotopians and on the planet Exocon, they tried to take over this ship, so we had to disarm them and lock them up here, until we get back home and bring them to justice."

  Rank just stared at kell, not sure what to do and then they moved onto to the command module, which was just one room, so there wasn't much to see, although he did have a look at the navigation console, to see where they had being recently. "Where was the last system you were in, prior to this one?" he questioned Kell, trying to catch him out, but kell had also read the navigation log, "Xorapes 7!" Exclaimed Kell and the Lieutenant just nodded and kept on looking around. Kell knew that he was losing, but what to do about it.

  "Those Incenotopians, they'll collaborate your story?" The Lieutenant asked and kell just laughed back at him saying "You must be joking, they'll make up a cock and bull story to save their own skin!"

  The Lieutenant came closer to kell, having to look up at his burly face, as kell was a good half a foot taller than him. Then with a very disbelieving look in his eyes, he asked "Captain Ngek, have you any papers to support these tales?"

  Once again kell was one step ahead of him "Papers!" He exclaimed while smiling and then went on to say "In my line of business papers are not a good idea, you do realize we are salvagers and on occasion smugglers."

  Kell had got him there, as a rebel of the Vis Yar, they could not care less about pirates or smugglers, it was the Federation whom they had a bone to pick with. "Where are you going to bring your brother in law, for treatment Captain?" Finally he said leaving kell in the lurch.

  Kell shrugged, then said, "I don't know, the first system we see but not here Lieutenant."

  "We'll give you save escort to Exugenes, we have beaten the Federation, you'll be safe there." He said.

  Kell just looked at him blankly and then said "No way pal." While shaking his head, "The Federation are on their way back, and I'm not hanging around for the fire fight."

  "What!" The Lieutenant exclaimed, looking genuinely surprised " We destroyed the Federation, they will not come back."

  "You stick with your story," kell said, "I've being in the salvage game for thirty years and my nose knows better."

  "Well maybe your nose knows better, but I would not agree with you!" Exclaimed the Lieutenant, who looked like he had made up his mind, as he came to stand directly in fro
nt of Colonel kell, doing his best to stand up to the gruff Colonel. "Captain you turn your ship around and head straight back to Exugenes and we will clear up all of these matters." The Lieutenant said.